EBA: Banks Need to Understand Real-Time Data Use

The Euro Banking Association (EBA) says banks need a greater understanding of real-time data.

That’s according to a report released Thursday (Dec. 1) by the EBA, on the use of real-time data in corporate liquidity management based on research by the association’s Liquidity Management Working Group (LMWG).

The EBA said the paper was designed to offer insight into how some companies are using real-time data in liquidity management, and where they could benefit from real-time data access. The goal is to spotlight opportunities and constraints for banks in this space.

Krister Billing, chair of the LMWG, said that with the impending ISO 20022 messaging standard and the advent of instant payments, European banks have invested a lot in infrastructure that allows them to deliver real-time data and payment to their corporate clients.

But in order to best support these clients, “banks must now develop a clearer understanding of how this real-time data can best be used by customers to manage liquidity and to support business decision-making more generally,” Billing said.

The report features six case studies of companies from a variety of industries, drawing on the insights of corporate treasurers to determine “how companies use data to manage liquidity, when they value real-time data from banks and use cases for which treasurers could use more bank-supplied, real-time data,” the EBA said.

PYMNTS looked at the importance of real-time data in June — especially in the face of global events like the pandemic — in a conversation with former Microsoft Treasurer Tahreem Kampton.

Kampton said technology, and the data collected and analyzed using tech, are vital for juggling things like integrating multiple cash accounts, vendor insight, and FX risk, in real time.

He offered up the example of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which brought financial services to a halt for a period of time. With real-time data on hand and a game plan (as well as a measure of tech-driven automation), Microsoft was able to make sure that employees in the region could be paid without interruption.

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